


Spirits in the Material World

by Gamemakers



Series: Don't Stand So Close To Me [3]
Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, F/M, Meeting Up With Ex-In-Laws Is Weirder, Meeting Up With Exes Is Weird, No Worries They're Both Consenting Adults, Past Student/Teacher, Road Trips, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-11 01:44:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7870681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gamemakers/pseuds/Gamemakers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the personal side, the last few months have been fantastic for Peeta. On the professional side? Not so much. When a long-awaited opportunity comes up in New Mexico, he jumps at it.</p><p>Katniss loves summers, really she does, and as a teacher, she gets the opportunity to savor (wallow in) every minute of it. By mid-July, she's about ready to go all Jack Nicholson in The Shining at any moment. If Peeta's heading out to New Mexico, she's going to tag along.</p><p>Luckily, nothing has ever gone wrong on a cross country road trip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the Police song. I'd love to say that it inspired this story and wasn't just picked because it was a pretty title that fit with the other chapters, but there's no way I'm deep enough for that.

"Next Thursday at eleven," he repeated. "That's the twenty-fourth, right?"

"Yes, the twenty-fourth. Will that work for you?" Alma Coin had such a crisp, efficient voice that under different circumstances, Peeta could have mistaken her for a machine.

Peeta wrote the date down in big letters on one of their cake order forms and held it out for his father to see. "That fits with my schedule, yes."

"I'll see you then. I look forward to meeting you."

"Me too. Thank you again for this opportunity. Have a nice weekend." Peeta double-checked that the line was closed before he set the phone down. He was smiling so widely that it hurt when he turned to his father. "That was the Yuma office!"

"Is this your way of asking for next Thursday off?" the man asked. His words had no bite to them, and beneath his neatly-trimmed moustache, it would have been hard to miss his grin. "You know, that Thursday rush…"

Ah, yes. The Thursday crowd of the four regulars who couldn't go a day without their usual breakfast pastry. "I'm sure we'll be flooded," Peeta laughed. "I'll be sure to get back by Friday at noon so I can help with the prep for Saturday."

Jonathan Mellark shook his head. "Don't worry about getting back. Take an extra day. I managed well enough while you were in school. I think I can handle a weekend by myself." He studied Peeta for a moment. "Unless you think I'm getting old, of course."

He couldn't pass up that opportunity. "Not old, just feeble."

His father snorted. "You kids these days. No respect for their elders."

"You're sure about this?"

"Absolutely. You'll want a chance to look around Yuma a bit before you decide to move out there, and I don't want you driving ten hours or whatever it is back after going through an interview. That's just asking for trouble." He glanced over towards the oven. "You think those are ready to take out? They look about done from over here."

Peeta leapt into action, a term he was pretty sure belonged only in comic books and nowhere near a bakery that only managed a four-star rating on Yelp. The cupcakes might have been a little extra on the golden-brown side, but he didn't think anyone else would notice. Whip up some frosting while they cooled, do the decorating, and have them out for display. He could handle this. Wait, maybe there was some of that buttercream from this morning left. Dad probably hadn't used all of it on the sheet cake.

His journey to the refrigerator was halted by a strong hand on his arm. "Dad?" asked Peeta, confused.

The glistening in Jonathan's eyes bore a suspicious resemblance to unshed tears. "I'm real proud of you, you know." His voice was gruff. "Not sure if I like the idea of you going so far away, but I'm really proud you've got the opportunity."

"Thanks," he answered, not quite sure how to respond. "It's just an interview. They might not hire me."

"No, I've got a good feeling about this one."

Peeta shifted uncomfortably. He wanted this. It checked off all the boxes: public defender, in the Southwest, diverse population… everything. But he definitely didn't want to get his hopes up, not when they were probably bringing in five people more qualified than him to interview for the same position.

Jonathan shook his head and gave Peeta an awkward pat on the back. "Right then, back to work. I got some of that frosting on the top shelf if that's what you're looking for."

* * *

Huh. Now that he knew that the murder scene was coming, it felt like the natural conclusion. What else would the writers have done with that? He did his best not to tense up, since he shouldn't have been watching ahead when they had agreed to finish this season together, but he couldn't quite manage. Katniss must have felt it, because she turned back to look at him. "Peeta, what's –"

Her braid hit the side of his face when she heard the bloodcurdling scream from the television. "Shit, that's a lot of blood," Katniss said as she relaxed back into his arms.

"Yeah." And it was still coming. He remembered it was gory, but somehow Peeta had managed to forget that this director had no restraint.

"You know, the human body only has about five liters of blood, and they're definitely past that. If she wasn't dead, I'd suggest she see a doctor about that."

He snorted. "Ooh, talk nerdy to me, baby."

That earned him an elbow to the ribs. But she stayed nestled in his arms, and he pressed little kisses against her hair and forehead, and if it weren't for the little ball of worry that curdled in his stomach, he might have mistaken this for perfection.

Not that it couldn't have been. No reasonable person would be worried about this. Then again, no reasonable person would sign himself up for a hundred thousand dollars in student loans or date their ninth-grade science teacher. After that, being afraid that said girlfriend would be upset about a job interview, even if it was six hundred miles away, seemed pretty stupid.

Best to get going then. Bite the bullet, dive right in, stop using cliché phrases to try to put this off even a millisecond longer. "Hey Katniss?"

"Hey Peeta?"

"I've got a job interview in Yuma on Thursday." There it was, out for the world – or at least Katniss – to see.

"That's great!" She twisted around to look at him, wearing a smile too warm to be fake. "What's the job? Think you've got a shot?"

"Public defender, and I sure hope so. I'm sure they've got –"

She cut him off with a kiss. "None of that. I'm sure you'll do fine." Katniss sat up and stretched towards the ceiling, revealing a terribly distracting inch of her stomach. "Next Thursday, huh?"

With her hair ever so slightly rumpled and her shirt gathering around her breasts in a way it definitely wouldn't have been had they not been cuddling on the couch for the last hour, it took him longer than it should have to find an answer. "Yeah, well, I guess it's this Thursday now, the twenty-fourth."

"Mind if I come with you? I've been wanting to get out of town."

"Of course. Summer's not the busiest time of year for teachers, huh?"

She nodded, suddenly very serious. "And I want to keep you safe."

Not the answer he had been expecting, and probably not one too many men would be flattered by, but Peeta had to appreciate the concern. "What's this terrible danger waiting for me in Arizona, might I ask?"

He'd never get tired of the way her smiles dawned over her features, slowly lighting up her entire face. "Republicans."

"Touché."


	2. Chapter 2

Each March, she started counting down the days until school ended. She would start on the first of the month on really bad years, after spring break on better years. Once, the year she and Gale had divorced, Katniss had made that first big red X the day after Valentine's Day. Few feelings could compare to finally reaching that last day, finishing the marathon grading session that came with final exams, and rushing towards the doors with just as much excitement as her students had a few hours prior. She would play the radio a little louder on her way home, fix herself a couple margaritas with way more tequila than they added at the Mexican restaurant downtown. The next ten weeks shined in front of her, bright, beautiful, and full of hope.

And after about two weeks of vegging out and breaking every resolution she had made for the summer, Katniss would admit she wanted to go back. School sometimes felt like prison, but at least it wasn't solitary confinement. Some weeks, the only people she talked to face to face were the clerks at the grocery store. This summer hadn't been quite as bad – she had Peeta to thank for that – but she still kind of wanted to kill someone. Katniss hadn't quite figured out who yet, but even though the range had shut down years ago, she still had that bow out in her shed, and it was only a matter of time before she hit her breaking point.

Peeta's interview was a godsend. The route they had outlined would take them straight through the reservation, so on their way back, she could show him around her old haunts, and they had already made plans with Haymitch, her godfather, to spend an afternoon at his house. Add in that Peeta might get a job that paid more than ten bucks an hour out of this, and it sounded like a pretty sweet deal.

Of course, if Peeta wanted any chance of landing said job, he really needed to get out here so they could get going. He had chosen one hell of a time to start running late. Katniss checked the time on her cell phone just to be sure that it was indeed 12:43 like the car's clock said. Technically, she learned, the Camry's was all of one minute slow. She had managed to show up only eight minutes after they had planned on leaving, and Peeta, who she could almost swear had never been late to anything in his entire life, wasn't anywhere to be seen five minutes later. It almost made her want to find a nice awning to hide under in case the sky started falling down.

Her father had always insisted that boys come to the door to pick her up. She supposed it was about time a guy made her go up to the house. In any case, it was probably good to shut off the engine. Katniss had just spent fifty bucks filling up the tank, and it would suck if she had to refill again because she'd been sitting in the car with the air on for ages.

* * *

After four months of dating, the three flights of stairs that led up to Peeta's apartment no longer winded her. Katniss was so busy congratulating herself on that small triumph that it took her a moment to notice that for once, the shouting that she heard wasn't coming from Peeta's neighbors. The elderly couple that lived next door to him – Katniss still hadn't figured out how the eighty-somethings managed those stairs - seemed to shout because they couldn't hear what the other one was saying if they talked at a reasonable volume.

These people, on the other hand, were definitely pissed at each other, and they didn't care if the entire world knew it. Katniss wanted to run back to her car and pretend when Peeta came out that she had been running late, but she really didn't want to be driving through the desert too late at night, and if they didn't get out of here soon, that's exactly what would happen. She nudged the door open and stepped inside.

Rye spotted her only a few steps into the apartment, and he shook his head and pointed her back towards the door, but she couldn't retreat quickly enough.

"Who are you?" Katniss froze. "Did I ask you a question?"

She must have been out of practice, because it took a second for her cornered-teacher instincts to kick in. But the second they did, she morphed into a different person. Her posture straightened and her chin rose, and her hair… well, her hair didn't magically switch from its loose braid into the businesslike chignon she wore whenever she had parent meetings scheduled, but it might as well have. "I'm Katniss Everdeen. Pleased to meet you." She kept her words clipped and her tone pleasant in a way that kept angry parents from getting even more pissed off while informing them that she wasn't going to put up with any shit from them.

It didn't work too well on Peeta's mother, for the more she looked at the short, stout woman before her, the more Katniss was convinced she had finally met the infamous Mrs. Mellark. The woman's nose wrinkled. "So this is who you've been spending all this time with these past few months. Where's your taste gone, Peeta? She's old enough to be your mother!"

Okay, to be honest, Katniss had never been that great about sunscreen, and it was starting to show at the corners of her mouth, but there was no way she looked fifty-plus. "As much as I would love to stick around and have you insult me the rest of the day, we really need to be going. Maybe some other time?"

Katniss could practically see steam coming out of Mrs. Mellark's ears at that one, but the other woman woman said nothing to her, instead turning back towards Peeta, who cut her off before she could say anything regrettable. "No, Mom, she's right. I was supposed to meet her outside a few minutes ago. I'll give you a call when we get to the hotel."

Peeta grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rye struggling to contain his laughter. He'd better tone it down if he didn't want his mother's anger turned on him the moment the door was shut behind them.

"What was that about?" she asked as they raced down the stairs.

Peeta shook his head. "I didn't tell her about the interview because, well, you saw, and Dad must have let something slip. I didn't answer my phone when she called, so she came over. I'm really sorry about that, by the way."

"No worries. I just want to get out of here."

"I'd like to say she's not usually like that, but..."

Her eyebrows rose at that one. She had heard Peeta's horror stories about his mother, and it really sounded to her like the woman was at least bordering on abusive, but Katniss had always figured that was just when the woman was in her worst moods. "Really?"

"Yeah, Sunday dinners are really fun." They reached the bottom of the stairs. "Do you want to take the first driving shift, or should I?" Katniss silently passed him the keys. "If you want to get settled, I'll just stick this in the back seat."

She buckled her seatbelt and checked that the fruit snacks were in the glove compartment. Katniss did her best to push the incident from her mind, but it refused to budge. The car shifted underneath his weight when Peeta climbed into the driver's seat. "Why do you put up with that shit?"

"You mean my mom?" He shrugged. "Guess I'm just used to her by now. It bugs me. It bothers me a lot, really, but cutting ties with her would mean cutting off my dad and my brothers too, and I could never do that. Don't worry, my dad's great. You'll love him."

* * *

"What's your greatest weakness?"

"Are you trying to help me get a job or scoping out ways to murder me?" he laughed.

She shook her head. "Who's asking the questions here, Mellark?"

"Um, let's see." He thought about it for a moment longer than he should if this was an actual interview, but that was okay. They wouldn't be practicing on the drive if he already had this completely nailed down. "Well, sometimes, I think I have a hard time seeing negative qualities in the people I'm close to."

Katniss would have to agree with that assessment. "All right, then, how are you going to work on that?"

"I'll definitely need to be mindful of when I'm developing a connection with people. I think that'll help me realize when I need to take a step back and think about things objectively, really focusing on the facts instead of letting my feelings make the decisions by themselves." He sounded so professional, and Katniss found herself nodding along. "You like that answer?"

"Peeta, if you can answer all their questions like you just answered mine, I think you're going to leave this thing with a job."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"No, I'm not just saying that to make you feel better. I have a really good feeling about this interview."

He chuckled and shook his head. "You know, my dad said almost the same thing to me when I told him I had an interview."

"Maybe we're psychic."

"Let's hope." He dug out a bag of fruit snacks from the glove compartment. "You hungry?"

Considering that they'd been on the road for almost six hours with no snack breaks, she actually wasn't that hungry. "Yeah, but I don't want a full pack."

She squeaked when he pressed one of the fruit snacks to her lips, but she ate it anyway. They had melted a little during their hours in the glove compartment, but they still tasted good. When Peeta held out the next one, her lips closed around both the tip of his finger, licking it clean. She glanced away from the road to see him watching her, entranced.

Satisfied she had gotten every last bit of fruit snack off of him, Katniss let his finger slip from her mouth. "You know," she said, "I kind of thought you were going to just hand me a few to feed myself."

He blinked at her, adorable as ever, then he pulled another fruit snack from the bag. "Katniss, if you're trying to convince me to stop feeding them to you individually, you really picked the wrong strategy."


	3. Chapter 3

He hated the hotel's clock. If Peeta were to design a clock with the intention of annoying anyone who had to sleep in a room with it, he still wouldn't have ended up with a model as bad as this one. Its glowing numbers painted the entire room with enough red light that he could make out the tiny floral pattern of the wallpaper on the far wall. And somehow, even though it was a digital clock, it made these little ticking noises every second or so that made him want to rip it from the wall and smash it against the ground until it was nothing but scraps of twisted metal and bad memories.

But satisfying as the clock-destroying fantasy was, he had to admit it probably wouldn't help him get to sleep. His exhaustion weighed on every bone of his body, but no matter many how times he moved into new positions or how many stupid sheep he counted, he couldn't fall asleep. If that damn clock hadn't lit up the entire room, he might have thought there was a sleep fairy hovering in the corner and blowing raspberries at him.

Oh God, if he had fallen to that level of description, he had really been up for way too long. Peeta glanced over at the clock. 6:19. Katniss usually woke up around 6:45, sometimes 7:00, so at least he wouldn't be alone for too much longer. He turned to look at her. She slept soundly, and Peeta watched the steady rise and fall of her chest as sunlight began to peek in around the edges of the heavy curtains. Like this, with her lips parted and her dark hair fanned out around her, Katniss looked more at peace than she ever did when awake.

He was almost disappointed when her eyes opened. Katniss tried to say something, but it came out as nothing more than a yawn.

"Good morning."

"What time is it? I mean, yeah, you too."

He looked over his shoulder. "Six fifty. We've got plenty of time before we need to be anywhere."

"When did you get up?" She rolled onto her side to get a better look at him. "Please tell me you got some sleep."

Lying seemed like a really bad idea right now, so he kept quiet. "Oh, Peeta."

"It'll be all right. I've pulled all-nighters before big tests before." No need to mention that he had never done particularly well on any of those tests. "I'll be all right. Don't worry about me."

"I'm your girlfriend. I'm going to worry about you." She sat up, and a very distracting sliver of her stomach came into view as she stretched upwards. He reached for her waist, but she playfully slapped him away. "Not now. You should try to get some sleep."

"I know something that makes me tired," Peeta answered.

She sighed and smiled down at him. "Are you determined to be difficult today?"

"Katniss, if I wasn't difficult, you wouldn't like me nearly as much."

She snorted in response to that, but she met him halfway when he leaned up for a kiss. This time, when his hands went for her waist, hers kept them there instead of pushing them away.

* * *

She had to give him some credit: Peeta had really good intuition about what would make him fall asleep. By the time she returned from the restroom after cleaning herself up and getting dressed, he was out cold. She kissed him on the forehead and headed out in search of some coffee. Maybe this La Quinta would be the place that disproved her hypothesis that you had to pay at least a hundred bucks a night at a hotel for the complimentary coffee to be halfway decent.

Karma must have been working for her that morning, for Katniss hit the sweet spot of hotel breakfasts. There weren't so many people about that she had a hard time getting her food, but there were enough other customers that she didn't feel like she had to make small talk with the custodial staff. Unfortunately, she hadn't been quite good enough in her past lives to earn some good coffee to go with her sad little pile of eggs and overcooked bacon. Looked like her theory still stood.

They had listened to a little NPR on the way out, so she already knew nothing major had happened yesterday, but she still took a look at the paper. Katniss always liked to check out the local papers when she was traveling to see if there were any coupons or suggestions of events in the area. As it turned out, Yuma was pretty dead this weekend. They had caught the week in between the Fourth of July celebrations and the town's Summer Fest. Bummer, but Katniss chose to see it as an extra surprise for next year, when Peeta would hopefully be working here.

She really should pass the newspaper on to one of the other guests, but instead, Katniss found herself flipping to the classifieds. She couldn't do this. Contracts were due in April, and even if they hadn't been, she refused to leave her district scrambling to find a replacement only six weeks before the school year started. Heavens, she didn't even know that Peeta had a job here, and she still couldn't stop herself from looking through the education classifieds. Yuma Public Schools had an opening for a mixed biology/chemistry position.

This was ridiculous. Yes, she loved Peeta, absolutely, but they had only been dating for four months. They had never talked about getting married, and yet here she was, ready to leave her job and her friends, the entire life she had carved out for herself in Panem, for him. What had happened to the independent woman she had once been? She and Gale had fought for months over his desire to move back to the reservation, and Katniss had long wondered if that was the fight that had pushed her over the edge in filing for divorce. Was this willingness to leave her life behind a sign of love or desperation?

No, she couldn't handle this right now. She tossed the newspaper down onto the seat next to her and gathered up her breakfast dishes.

* * *

"Morning," Peeta greeted her from the vanity as she entered the room. Though he had a good half hour before he needed to leave for the interview, he was already dressed in his suit.

"You too. I brought you coffee."

He accepted the paper cup. "Thanks."

"I wouldn't thank me 'til you've tried it. Not the best."

Peeta blew on it before he took his first sip. "Not the worst either."

"There's the optimist I know and love." She reached up to brush a stray piece of blond hair into place. "Did you get some good sleep."

"Yeah, actually."

"Good. Just don't psych yourself out, and you'll be fine. You know what you're talking about." She wrapped her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and pressed a feather-soft kiss to his shoulder, careful to check she hadn't left any trace of makeup behind.

His reflection met her eyes in the mirror. "Are you really the best judge of that?"

"I assure you that I am an excellent judge of whether or not someone is full of shit, and after months of careful consideration, I've decided you aren't."

"Thank you. I'm glad to hear it." He rubbed his chin and cheeks, searching for any stubble he might have missed while shaving earlier. She imagined that being blond made those rogue hairs more difficult to spot. "I think I'm going to head out a few minutes early, give me some time to get my nerves under control before the interview."

"Sounds like a plan." She gave his bottom a playful swat. "Now, get out of here. I want to brag to my friends about my rich lawyer boyfriend."

"You really picked the wrong kind of lawyer, didn't you?"

* * *

"Peeta. It's nice to meet you." Alma Coin's hand felt like ice. Or maybe his was really warm. Sweaty palms would make a great impression. "Please, sit down." From her hair to the bookshelves behind her, everything in the attorney's office was made of clean lines and hard edges. Though no curtains hung over the windows, the light that filtered in was cold, grey, and sterile.

He gave her a warm smile. "It's nice to meet you in person as well. I'm glad you could make time for this. I was reading about the Crane case a couple days back, and it seems like it must be occupying a lot of the office's time." Already, he could feel himself loosening up, getting more comfortable. For all the weird, almost robotic rigidity that Coin possessed, she was a person, and he had always been a people person. He could do this.

"Yes, it's definitely been quite the case. Now, because we are very busy here, I would like to keep the small talk to a minimum. I've got a few questions to ask, if you don't mind."

Okay, a little strange, but the brightest people all had their idiosyncrasies. "Of course."

She reached into one of her desk drawers and grabbed a piece of paper without even having to search for it. That was some pretty impressive organization right there. And wait, was that a checklist of questions? "Excellent. Let's get started."


	4. Chapter 4

"Well, what do you think?"

"I think it went well," he replied. "She was definitely looking for something specific, and I'm not sure I'm that, but the interview itself went okay."

"That's great." Katniss dunked a handful of fries in ketchup. After two McDonald's stops in the last three days, maybe she finally had the motivation she needed to start the summer fitness program she'd planned out this spring. Fat chance. By the time she'd swallowed and moved on to her next giant handful, he was studying his food like it was a masterpiece. No way a Filet-o-Fish could be that interesting. "Peeta, what's wrong?"

It looked like a Herculean effort to get his shoulders to relax. He flashed her a smile he probably thought was reassuring. "Nothing, why?"

"Because I'm not an idiot is why." The words came out harsher than she'd intended, and Peeta flinched. Katniss wished she could take it back and say that a little more kindly, but at the same time, if he wasn't going to be open and honest with her, why should she be patient with him? _Calm down, girl. No scaring him off over the little things._

"Not a whole lot. Just thinking." He shrugged. "Dangerous stuff, right?"

She arched an eyebrow at that. "Do tell."

Peeta paused for moment, and she could almost see him rifling through his mental filing cabinet. "I'm just not sure I'd want to work in that office. I mean, on paper, it looks great, everything I'm looking for."

"And in person? How's the boss? She's the one who interviewed you, right?"

"Yeah, she's…" He shook his head. "She could make a hell of a living playing androids and alien invaders in the movies."

"One of those people who kind of makes you wonder if the lizard people are real?"

He laughed. "Yeah, that's great." Peeta tried to take a sip of his milkshake, but he cracked up halfway through and only barely managed to avoid spraying half-melted chocolate mess all over the table. He set down the cup and looked at her. "She gives me some real doubts, you know? I always thought the conspiracy theorists were crazy, but it's hard to argue with that kind of evidence."

This conversation's current direction made her very glad that they hadn't sprung for that bistro downtown. People pretty much knew what they were signing up for when they stepped into a McDonald's. You couldn't expect sophisticated conversations in a place that didn't bother to clean up the puddle of Hi-C Orange Lavaburst next to the soda fountain. What would the poor wait staff at some fancy bistro think if they overheard a conversation about lizard people? They already got enough strange looks with her being ten years older than him.

But that was beside the point. "If you got a phone call right now saying you got the job, would you take it?" Things would be so much easier if he said no. No worrying about a long-distance relationship, no job-hunting from six hundred miles away. He'd find something eventually. Nobody with Peeta's grades and personality stayed unemployed forever.

"You know, I think I would."

She forced herself to smile. "Then I hope you get it." That next bite of fries didn't taste nearly as good.

* * *

Peeta hung back as she rushed towards the man and enveloped him in a bear hug. Katniss had told him stories about Haymitch, but he looked nothing like the mental picture Peeta had created of him. Haymitch was a big man. He had a good four or five inches on Peeta, who didn't consider himself a short man, and though he carried more than a few extra pounds, there was muscle there as well. Faded red and blue tattoos snaked up strong arms even darker than Katniss', and greasy, graying black hair fell to his shoulders. Haymitch looked like the kind of guy you wouldn't want to look crosswise at on the street, and dating his goddaughter had to rank somewhere below that on the Hot 100 Things Not To Do Around Haymitch Abernathy. Oh well, nothing to do now but be polite and hope for the best.

Peeta had a smile ready and waiting for when they broke apart. "Haymitch, this is Peeta Mellark," Katniss introduced them. "Peeta, this is my godfather, Haymitch Abernathy."

"I've heard a lot about you from Katniss. It's nice to finally put a face to the stories." He extended his hand.

"And you still came? Brave." Haymitch took his proffered hand and gave it a hearty shake. "Nice to meet you too, kid." He clapped Katniss on the back. "What do you say we had inside before the fire department has to hose us off the ground?"

"And here I thought you'd never ask."

From the outside, Haymitch's house was one broken window away from being a certified shack. The old mobile home hadn't seen any paint in so long that rust ate at its walls, and Peeta worried that the rotting front porch would give way under their combined weights. Inside, though… well, it was still pretty much a shack, but at least it was nice and cool. A glass of ice water that tasted slightly metallic was pressed into his hands the second he stepped inside, and he sat on a couch so ugly that it had to be perfectly broken in. Heaven.

"A hundred and twelve degrees is what they were saying on the radio this morning. Can you believe it? Been like this for close to two weeks now, and they're still not sure when the heat's gonna break." Peeta groaned internally at Haymitch's words. The air conditioning in Katniss' car had been having a hard time already, and they still had a couple hours before the worst hit. He might have to see if they could stretch out their visit until four or five. Driving through the desert at night wasn't ideal, but neither was melting.

"So, sweetheart, what you been up to? Summer break treating you well?"

Katniss smiled and nodded. "It really is. I've got most of my prep work done for next year, so these next few weeks are mine to do whatever I want with. I'm definitely going to be ready to go back, but it is nice not to have to get out of my pajamas until noon if I don't want to." She had lit up the minute they started down Haymitch's driveway, and that glow hadn't faded yet. Peeta loved seeing her like this, happy and bright and more alive than most people could ever hope to be.

Haymitch laughed, a rich sound that came from deep in his belly. "I imagine. Now for the real question. How's this stiff been treating you?" He motioned towards Peeta.

All eyes – well, the two sets of eyes currently present – were on him. Katniss looked him up and down, her lips pursed as she struggled to contain her laughter. She shrugged. "If I'm being generous, I'd say he's adequate."

Peeta frowned at her, but when she finally cracked, he couldn't help but laugh along.

* * *

"Sure you don't want to stay overnight? There's always the guest bedroom, and we can give lover boy the couch if you don't want to share."

Katniss shook her head. "I'd love to, but we really should be getting back. Peeta's got work Monday morning."

"I guess you'll just have to come out for a longer visit sometime, then." He glanced towards the restroom, checking that Peeta hadn't yet emerged. "He seems like a nice kid."

"Yeah, he really is."

"And he's moving to Yuma." One could always trust Haymitch to get straight to the point.

"If everything works out, yes."

"So am I going to be seeing a lot more of you?"

"We haven't talked about that yet." She wanted to keep making eye contact with him, really she did, but suddenly, the mysterious red stain on his kitchen counter required her full attention. "I'll bring it up later." She poked her head up to see him rubbing his temples. "Don't worry. Things will work themselves out."

Haymitch just shook his head at that. She seized the opportunity to change the subject. "So, how's Gale doing?"

"Pretty good. When's the last time you talked to him?"

She had to think about that one for a minute. "Probably March? I asked him for some opinions about some cars before I bought the Camry."

"Nice car, by the way. Lot better than that piece of shit you used to drive." He took a long drink from his glass. It was a nice change to see him drinking water instead of whatever alcohol he'd found for cheap at the liquor store. "March, huh? I don't think too much has changed since March. He still drives me out once a week for groceries. There was a girlfriend for a while in there, but I don't think that lasted more than a month, two tops."

She felt no shock of jealousy, no curl of anger that he would dare look at another woman even if she no longer wanted him. Good. That was progress. "That's good."

"He's a nice kid too."

"Yeah, he is." Katniss waited, seeing where Haymitch wanted to go with that.

"If you're gonna have a type, that's not a bad one to pick."

She cupped a hand over her ear. "I'm sorry, I must not have heard that right. Did you actually just compliment my taste in men?"

He shook his head and gave her a big, shit-eating grin when he saw that Peeta had emerged from the bathroom.

"Ready?" Peeta asked, and she nodded. "Thanks for having us. It was nice to meet you."

"You too." Haymitch shook his hand and gave Katniss a one-armed hug. "And you be safe."

She returned the embrace. "You too, Haymitch."

* * *

The roads in this part of the state stretched on forever, the desert so flat and endless that one could see on for miles, the view only limited by one's own eyesight. They hadn't seen another car in several minutes, and so Peeta felt no guilt in sneaking long glances at Katniss. She had agreed to navigate for this portion of the trip, but they hadn't gotten more than a mile or two down the road before she started nodding off. Now, twenty minutes in to their six-hour drive, she was fast asleep. She looked peaceful, more at ease than she ever did while awake. He reached out to stroke her wrist, and though she shifted at the contact, she did not wake. Her skin was soft, and he found himself massaging circles into the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist as he drove.

_Bang._ At the gunshot, he instinctively slammed on the brakes ducked down, reaching over to pull Katniss down as well. She lurched awake at the nose. "Peeta?"

A low whooshing sound followed, and the car was decelerating too fast. He checked in the rearview mirror that there was nobody else around and pulled off onto the shoulder. The seatbelt went taut as the car came to a stop, and his back hit the seat with enough force that he would definitely have a bruise tomorrow. Still, no real harm done. He turned to Katniss. "You all right?"

"Yeah." Her voice was shaky, and her nod matched.

"Good." He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door. "I think a tire blew out on us." A quick look at the car confirmed his suspicions. The front passenger tire was out. She got out as well to join him. "You got a spare in back? We should at least be able to get it to the next town."

Katniss winced. "I don't think so, but you can check." He opened up the trunk and started moving bags around, trying to get to the spare tire. "Where are we? How long had we been driving?"

"About twenty minutes, maybe half an hour? I think we're about twenty miles away from Haymitch's." He found the spare. Thank god she had one in there, or they'd be stuck in the middle of nowhere as they waited for a tow truck. "You know any of the mechanics around here?"

She reached for her purse and grabbed her cell phone. "Yeah, I know one." Something about her tone made him look away from the trunk to watch her as she punched numbers into her phone from memory. Katniss shook her head. "Oh, you're gonna love this."


	5. Chapter 5

He double-checked that the lugnuts were secure before sitting back to admire his handiwork. It didn't look right. Peeta hoped that was just the fact that the tiny spare stood in place of the flat and not a mistake on his part. Dad had showed him how to change a tire years ago after Rye managed to back over some contractor's order of carpentry nails in the Menards parking lot, but his fourteen-year-old self hadn't paid as much attention as he should have. Driving seemed a long way away, and surely he wouldn't do anything as stupid as Rye had. The need wouldn't arise. Not for the first time, he wanted to go back and smack teenage Peeta.

"So, are we ready?" Katniss asked, leaning down to kiss his forehead as she did. He'd found a keeper if she was willing to put up with that much sweat.

"I think so." _Really confident_. "So, what's the plan?"

"We're going to take it into Gale's shop. He ordered the tire as we talked, and he says he can get the delivery service to bring it overnight. He'll get it on first thing in the morning."

She sounded a little too matter-of-fact about seeing her ex-husband, but he wasn't going to mention that. "Great."

Katniss shot him a warning look. "Be nice."

"Of course I will." It hadn't crossed his mind to do anything else. If Katniss was over Gale (and preferably, Gale was over Katniss as well) what did it matter? He'd go to the shop of her high school friend or cousin or something in an instant, and Peeta placed exes with whom things were absolutely, one hundred percent over in about the same category. Now, if she wasn't as done with Gale Hawthorne as she'd led him to believe… No. Katniss wouldn't do that.

"He's a nice guy."

"I'm sure he is." She didn't look convinced. He ran his fingers through his hair. "I'll be fine, Katniss. Just because I'm not sold on this doesn't mean I can't act like an adult."

Her expression finally softened. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to suggest that. Up?" He accepted her hand and let her help him to his feet. "Thanks for changing the tire." Her smile was forced, but it was there.

"No problem."

"Ready to head?"

"Hey, if you're done with this dusty stretch of nowhere, I guess I can be too." She didn't seem to appreciate that, so Peeta kept quiet as he climbed into the passenger seat. But when another thought came to him, he could no longer keep quiet. "You got directions, right?" _Please don't make me call Gale as you're driving to figure out where the shop is._

"I grew up in this town, Peeta. I think I know how to get there."

"I didn't think you two talked often is all. I figured the shop was relatively new." He really didn't know when to stop, did he. The hole kept getting deeper, and he just kept shoveling with no thought as to how to climb out.

Peeta paused for a moment, waiting for her to chew him out, but she didn't even dignify his words with a response. Katniss stared straight ahead, just as a responsible driver should. The muscle in her jaw twitched, and though she must have felt his eyes on her, she did not turn. Eventually, he gave up, leaning back in his seat and staring out the window. At least the view out here was nice.

* * *

Mockingjay Song, Population 2307 announced the proud sign posted right where the highway went into town. It made a nice replacement for the one that had sat in that spot for thirty years. Someone must have hit that sad, worn little sign or vandalized it beyond repair, for there she doubted the town would have bought a new one otherwise. She hadn't been back since 2010, but the place couldn't have changed that much.

Hawthorne's Auto Services stood one block off the town square. A colorful mural decorated one wall of the short, squat building. Gale had done a nice job fixing up Beetee's old place. She had to give him some credit for that.

Gale emerged from the building as they pulled into the parking lot. Katniss hadn't seen him in person since the divorce, six years now, but he hadn't changed much. A little older, a few pounds heavier, some more scruff on his jaw, but otherwise, he still looked about the same as he had since high school. Luckily, the similarities included the smile with which he greeted them. She turned off the engine and got out of the car. "Hey there! How have you been?" she half-shouted at him from across the parking lot.

"All right," he answered, squinting against the late afternoon sun. "I hear you two had some issues."

Peeta was standing beside her, so she couldn't see his reaction, but Katniss practically heard him stiffen in response. Typical. She gave no indication that she'd noticed. "Yeah, we might have hit a bump in the road." Gale chuckled at the un. "Or a nail or some broken glass, maybe. We looked around the area, but we couldn't figure out exactly what was to blame."

"You were up by Sunset Ridge, right? Sae had a blowout up there earlier this week. She thought it might be construction stuff. Said the crews that have been working a few miles past Haymitch's have been taking that route and not picking up after themselves."

"Must be good for business, huh?"

Katniss flinched at Peeta's words, but Gale laughed. "Yeah, I suppose so. Maybe I should have them drop a few more nails around."

Maybe now would be a good time for introductions. "Gale, this is Peeta Mellark. Peeta, Gale Hawthorne."

"Hey," they said in almost perfect unison. Peeta reached out and shook Gale's hand. Good to have that over with. Now they only had to get through a few minutes of pleasantries and then head off to the hotel.

"You want to come inside?" Damn him. Gale didn't wait for either of them to reply, just started into that sweet, sweet air conditioning. Maybe she could forgive him. "So, I know I was talking about this with Katniss, but I don't know how much she passed on. I don't keep the right tires for this model Camry in stock, but the deliver guy – Thom, you remember him, right, Katniss? – he owes me a favor, so he's going to get them to me tomorrow morning. He says they'll be here at six, soon as he starts his shift. I'm guessing it'll be more like seven, but we'll get you out of here before nine for sure."

"That's great." _Because I don't want to deal with a minute more of this than I absolutely have to._

"I was over at my mom's when we were talking earlier." Her stomach sank at those words. She knew it. She knew what had to be coming next, for Hazelle Hawthorne had maternal instincts beyond what was really reasonable. The alpha mother to end all alpha mothers, she had accepted Katniss as one of her own children the first time Gale had brought her home to meet the family, and Katniss still received a package of cookies from Hazelle's kitchen every Christmas. "She said to feel free to stay at her place overnight."

"That's very sweet of her." Katniss wanted to turn it down, but they were already going to end up paying for a replacement tire, and thought of adding on dinner, breakfast, and another night in a hotel made her checkbook cry. She looked over to Peeta, who looked incredibly uncomfortable at the suggestion. Too bad her mind was already made up. "That'd be great, Gale. Thank you so much."

He grinned. "No, thank you. She'd never let me forget it if you turned her down."


	6. Chapter 6

Three porcelain cats peered down at him from a high shelf. There were other items on the shelf as well: clay figurines that must have been sculpted in elementary school art classes, figurines off of novelty cakes, half a dozen wooden stamps of the letter H, but for some reason, those cats really stuck out to him. Even in inanimate form, cats always looked a little bit haughty, as though they just knew that they were superior, and these three really seemed to be enjoying his current discomfort. Jackasses.

Under any other circumstances, Peeta would have liked Hazelle Hawthorne a lot. Honestly, he was about halfway there anyway. He had always thought of himself as a good cook – and others seemed enthusiastic about agreeing on that point – but she was a wizard in the kitchen. She only had leftovers for them, but damn were they delicious. He couldn't imagine how good it must have been straight out of the oven. If that wasn't enough, Hazelle's personality filled any room she entered. The woman was a constant buzz of activity, and at no point in the ninety minutes since he and Katniss had arrived had she ever been doing less than three things at once. Right now it was munching on leftovers, knitting, and keeping up a steady stream of gossip. That kind of intense multitasking must have been a survival strategy for a single mother of four, but looking in from the outside, it just left him feeling dizzy. Hazelle knew everything about everybody, and she wasted no time in filling Katniss in on all the juicy details. For the last few minutes, they'd been talking about some woman named Linda, one of Katniss' former classmates who, from what Peeta could gather, had managed to get married, become a mother, and get divorced all in under a year. The more he thought about it, the more impressive it became.

"You really should stay a few days sometime and meet up with her, you know. She's the sweetest girl – woman, I suppose, it just seems so strange to call someone thirty years younger than me a woman – and the baby is just the cutest thing you ever did see. He has the biggest cheeks, reminds me of Rory when he was little."

"He sounds darling," Katniss said. He had worried that she would crack under the pressure of staying at her former mother-in-law's with her new boyfriend, but he should have known better. A little frayed around the edges? Sure. Letting herself fall apart? Not his Katniss. "I know I saw engagement and wedding pictures on Facebook. I'll have to do a little digging to see if I can find some baby ones too."

Hazelle huffed. "Facebook's nowhere near as good as the real thing. I tell you, you need to come back for a nice long visit sometime." Her face brightened. "Though, if everything goes as planned, I guess you'll be moving back to the area. Who would've thought it?"

Peeta's mouth went dry at that. He hoped she would come with him, or that they could at least work out some way to see each other, but what if she didn't want to?

Katniss managed an uneasy smile. "We don't have the details completely figured out." Understatement of the century right there. You couldn't start working on the details until you had the main strokes ready. "We just don't want to jinx it." That was a better excuse than anything he could have come up with. He knew there was a reason he kept her around.

"Oh, all right then. I hope it works out for the two of you." Hazelle frowned down at her knitting and undid the last few stitched. Peeta took the opportunity to check on the cats again. Damn, they looked smug.

* * *

There were too many possibilities, too few of them good. Peeta could stay at the bakery for a few months longer, she could keep her job, and they might make their relationship work. Peeta could get hired, she could stay at Panem High, and they would almost certainly break up. Peeta could get hired, she could find something in Arizona, and they could stay together, though she would be leaving the almost-family she'd managed to pull together these last few years. Peeta could not get hired, she could -

"Are you up?"

The words took her by surprise, and she nodded before realizing he couldn't see her in the darkened bedroom. "Yeah."

The mattress groaned as Peeta shifted beside her. She wanted to cry as he brushed a piece of hair away from her face. Thank goodness they slept spooned together, her back against his front, because even in the near darkness of Hazelle's guest bedroom, she doubted he'd be able to miss the tears gathering in her eyes. "I'm worried too."

The night went silent around Peeta's admission, as though the owls that had cooed outside their window all night demanded she give it her full attention. She considered her words for a long moment, rolling possibilities over her tongue until they all felt foreign. "What are we gonna do?" she finally managed.

Peeta pressed his lips to the back of her neck. "I just want to be with you. That's the most important thing to me."

"But you'll be nine hours away. Can we make this work long distance?" She already knew the answer, and it was a resounding no.

"We'll make it work. I'll come and visit."

"When?"

"There are weekends."

"So you're going to drive nine hours each way on the weekends? You can't do that. I won't _let_ you come visit me if you're going to do that." She paused and forced herself to swallow a few choice words she was only going to regret later. "We won't last through that. I know we won't."

"I won't give up on this. We can make it work." Peeta's voice was earnest, and that only made it worse.

She craned her neck to watch him. "We won't see each other for months at a time. I get a three-day weekend maybe every two months, and no matter what Coin says, you won't get anything more than Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year off your first year. You're young and you're cute –"

"Thank you."

He yelped when her elbow found the soft flesh of his abdomen. " – and someone else will get interested, or you'll stop being interested, or we just won't be able to deal with the distance anymore, and that'll be it."

"I wouldn't do that, trust me."

"That's the issue!" Judging by his expression, she couldn't have hurt him more if she went in with a chainsaw. "Not like that, but…"

"But what?" His voice, always so warm, had gone cold as ice.

"You just always want to see how things will work out later, push it off to another day. But if we're going to have a relationship that works, we need to talk about these things. We can't just go into something like this without a plan. That's a recipe for disaster, but you still won't talk about it. It's just 'we'll make it work' or 'let's see what happens,' and I can't do that!" She really should stop, but now that the floodgates were open, they weren't going to be so easily shut. "Or how about your mother? I ask what's wrong, and you brush it off, shut me out, and why? Because we'll figure it out some other time!"

"And how about you and Gale? I don't know what happened between the two of you. How am I supposed to know that we're not doing the exact same thing, huh? Ever thought about that?"

"You've never –" She let out a muffled scream when Peeta clapped his hand over her mouth.

"Sorry," he whispered as he moved his hand away. "I just thought you wouldn't want to wake up the entire house."

Probably a good idea. She hadn't realized how loud she must have been getting. "We need to talk." This time, she made sure to keep her voice low.

"Now?"

"Not if we can't stay quiet."

In the dim light, she could only barely make out his smile. "We've got six hours in the car tomorrow. Sound like a date?"

"I'm looking forward to it." She moved back into her usual sleeping position. There was no way she was actually going to get any sleep tonight, but she could at least pretend. The owls had returned, and she tried to time her breathing with their hoots.

* * *

She ought to be offended that her students knew the exact time, right down to the second, when her eighth-period class got out. Katniss usually kept her class going right up until that last second, but today, she was counting right along with them. _Five, four, three, two, one, there._ The bell sounded, freedom and joy encapsulated into one jarring mechanical noise. "Have a nice spring break, everybody. Stay safe. I want to see you all in one piece when we get back."

She waited for the last student to file out before she grabbed her purse and headed out. Technically, teachers were supposed to stay half an hour after school dismissed, but the rules were relaxed for breaks. As long as she didn't literally sprint through the halls on her way out the door, she should be fine.

Her suitcase was already in the trunk. Nothing was going to make her miss an extra second of this visit.

* * *

He was finishing setting the oven timer when the doorbell rang. Peeta didn't bother to take off his waist apron before he ran to the door. She waved at him through the screen as he approached, and the instant he opened the door, she was in his arms, his lips on hers.

He couldn't get close enough to her. Katniss' hands on his chest, her body pressed flush against his, her soft lips against his mouth for the first time in weeks, it wasn't enough. He prayed that he wasn't hurting her as his fingers pressed into her shoulders and waist, bringing her in ever closer. Judging by the way her breath caught whenever his hands moved, Peeta guessed she didn't mind.

Katniss nuzzled into his neck. "Planning on letting me in?"

"You don't want to give the neighbors a show?" The smile that toyed at her lips as she glared at him took any real sting out of it. He laughed and moved out of the way so she could come in to the apartment, then grabbed the suitcase she'd left sitting in the hallway. He had his arms around her again the instant the door was shut. "I've missed you so much," he murmured against her dark hair.

"I've missed you too." Small hands tugged his shirt loose from his jeans, and he let go of her for just a second or two so she could pull off his shirt uninhibited. Her fingers were magic against his bare chest, leaving a trail of goosebumps wherever they wandered. Peeta wasn't sure how they got into that position, but the next thing he knew, he had his back to the wall and his fingers curled into Katniss' hair as she peppered kisses all over his neck, shoulders, and chest. He jumped when she took a nipple into her mouth and began to suck.

"Katniss," he struggled for words. "Katniss, I can't –"

"Then take me to your room."

He wasn't going to make her ask twice. Seconds later, she was pushing him backwards onto his own mattress and climbing on top of him, her loose hair forming a curtain between them and the rest of the world. She frowned when something bumped against his side, and they both looked down to discover she hadn't removed her purse. Katniss shrugged and dropped the black bag onto his nightstand and kicked off her shoes. "Getting comfortable?" he asked.

"You bet."

There weren't words after that. There wasn't enough space between them for words as they peeled the rest of their clothing off, as he rolled her nipple between his fingers, as she bit down on his bottom lip. She did manage to moan his name when he rolled her over and moved to sit with his back against the headboard, but then she was straddling him and guiding him to her entrance. Both groaned as their bodies finally came together after so many weeks apart. Peeta settled his hands on her hips and allowed her to set the pace.

He wanted it to last forever. The roll of her hips against his own, her soft skin beneath his hands, her silky hair against his shoulder. But no matter how they both tried to draw it out, the pressure building between them was too great. As soon as he felt Katniss tense against him, Peeta allowed himself to fall over the edge with her.

Peeta basked in the afterglow for a long moment, relishing Katniss' warm weight against his chest. "I don't think I asked you how your day was," he said, his voice still husky.

Katniss laughed. "Peeta, I don't think you bothered to say hello."

"I'm a terrible host."

"Mm-hmm." She nuzzled against his shoulder.

"So, how are you doing?"

"I guess I've probably been worse." She laughed at his expression. "Pretty good, really. The drive was all right. Long, but all right."

"That's about as good as the drive gets, I'm afraid." Seven months in, he still wasn't used to that nine-hour drive, and at this point, he doubted he ever would.

"Yeah. Oh, I met the new principal on Wednesday."

"And how's he?"

"Biggest asshole I've ever met."

"You know, I heard that the next town over is looking for a science teacher."

"You just heard that, eh? Do you talk a lot about teaching openings at the office?" He could hear the smile in her words.

"We do, all the time."

"Well then, I might just have to give it a look."

"I hope you will."


End file.
